This invention relates to the manufacture of crisps fried in grapeseed oil.
The consumption of various snacks such as potato chips, corn chips, pretzels, nuts, extruded crisps and similar products is very high and growing annually at a rate of 2-5% per year in developed countries and at more than 20% per year in developing countries.
Exclusive of nuts, pretzels and some other foods, such snacks are generally known as crisps, namely those sliced from potatoes (with or without flavor additives) and those made from reconstituted vegetable matter, with starch and flavor additives, such as corn chips, reconstituted potato chips and soy base chips. These crisps are generally fried but chips are also available baked. The purpose of baking is to reduce or eliminate the fat that is added during frying. Certain fried crisps are now also available fried in a synthetic non-digestible fat. Fried chips contain from about 25% fat to more than 35%.
A baked low fat (under 10%) soy based crisp is described in our recently filed patent application.
Since the texture and flavor of baked crisps is different from fried crisps and the consumption of fried crisps by far exceeds that of baked crisps, this invention deals with fried crisps.
The use of synthetic fats and vegetable fats or vegetable/animal fats as opposed to butter and lard type fats and hydrogenated or partly hydrogenated fats is a dietary improvement, but none of these fats contain as much polyunsaturated fats as does grapeseed oil, and they do not contain bioflavinoids in appreciable quantities.
The following table shows the fatty acid content of various food oils and fats.
______________________________________ Essential Fatty Acid % (Poly- Type of Oil unsaturated) Mono-unsaturated % Saturated % ______________________________________ Grapeseed 72 16 8 Sunflower 65 11 Soybean 60 14 Peanut 22 17 Olive 9 16 Coconut 2 87 Cottonseed 52 25 ______________________________________
Grapeseed oil also contains proanthocyanidin (PCO), a natural bioflavonoid. PCO has an intense, free radical scavenging effect. Free radicals damage cells by causing mutations in DNA, premature aging, inflammation, weaken of the immune system and are implicated in more than 60 diseases. PCO is the most potent antioxidant ever discovered.
Two studies on grapeseed oil were conducted at SUNY Science Center in New York by Dr. David Nash. (D. T. Nash; Arteriosclerosis, An Official Journal of the American Heart Association, Inc., Vol. 10, No. 6, November-December 1990.) (D. T. Nash, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 92T-116, 1993.) Both studies show that one ounce daily of grapeseed oil consumed for only several weeks showed that while total weight and cholesterol did not vary significantly, there was a significant drop in LDL (low density lipis--bad cholesterol) amounting to 7% and a rise in HDL (high density lipids--good cholesterol) of 13%, and the total cholesterol/HDL level was reduced by 15.6%.
The well known Helsinki heart study and the Framingham heart study (Drugs, 1990, 40 Suppl 1:138) showed that for every 1% increase in HDL, there was a 3% reduction in cardiac events like acute heart attack.
Soy protein's ability to lower cholesterol has been known for more than 30 years. In the 1970s, Cesare R. Sirtory and his colleagues narrowed the 30-year ongoing search to the legume's proteins and were able to lower the cholesterol of high cholesterol individuals by as much as 22%. Since then researchers have discovered a family of pigments, called isoflavones, as soy protein's most likely beneficial components. Chief among soy proteins are genistein and diadzein. Around 1990, genistein and its relatives were identified as potential anti-cancer agents; and the isoflavones are now identified as plant estrogens.
Recent work has also shown that these soy constituents are also antioxidants.
It is now evident that various components of soy act (a) to reduce cholesterol, (b) as antioxidants and cancer inhibitors, (c) as estrogen replacement in post menopausal women and (d) to help prevent stroke by limiting the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery and (e) to improve the elasticity of arterial vessels in women, thus helping to prevent cardiovascular disease.
For significant benefits to be obtained from soy, about 20-40 gms. of soy protein per day needs to be consumed. But the consumption of soy from foods like tofu, soy candy bars, soy margarine and other soy containing foods, if such foods are eaten in normally consumed quantities, is not sufficient. And many of these foods contain certain fats, sugars and other ingredients which should be kept to a minimum.
An analysis of crisp consumption made by the Financial Mail on May 19, 1996, page 12, shows that in the USA, UK, Israel and Canada, the consumption of crisps is very high. In the USA, such consumption is 83.times.40 gm. bags per person per year. If extruded crisps are added, this total comes to over 100 such bags. This quantity is consumed in spite of crisps being considered a "junk food" and its consumption is minimized contrary to a desire to eat more of it.
If some other snacks are partly replaced by crisps, then as much as half to three quarters of the recommended daily soy intake could come from crisps.
Fried crisps unfortunately contain about 25% to more than 35% fat. Using 30% fat as an average, this results in some 12 gms. of fat per 40 gms. of crisps. This is too much fat intake unless benefits as opposed to detriments are derived from the fat.